Railway-car retarder



Oct. 14, 1930. H. L. BONE RAILWAYQAR RETAHDER Filed June 20. 1928Patented Oct. 14, 1930 UNITED :STATES PATENT oFFic swam.

HERBERT L. BONE, 0F swIssvALE, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNoE TO THE UNIONSWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, or swIssvALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION orPENN- SYLVANIA RAILWAY-CAR EETAED Application filed June 20,

My invention relates to railway car retarders of the type involving abrake beam located in the trackway and movable toward and away from thewheels of railway cars for the purpose of retarding the motion of suchcars.

In apparatus of the type referred to, it is desirable that the brakebeam should engage the car wheels as far above the track rail aspossible, that is, asclose to the wheel axles as possible, because thecloser to the axle that this engagement occurs, the greater will be theretarding eifect for any given amount of pressure exerted on the brakebeam. It is impractical, however, to have the brake beam a considerabledistance above the track rail when the retarder is open, because of thedanger that the beam will then be in the path of parts on the rollingstock. One feature of my present invention is the provision of means forraising the brake beam as the beam is moved toward the track rail.

I will describe one form of apparatus embodying my invention, and willthen point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional viewshowing one form of retarder embodying my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 areviews similar to Fig. 1, but showing the parts of the retarder indifferent positions.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the threeviews.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the reference character 1 designates a trackrail, and the reference character 2 designates the brake beam of a carretarder. This beam is located by the side of the track rail 1, andcarries a replaceable brake shoe 3 having a wheel engaging.

The brake beam 2 is provided;

surface 3 with a forward roller 6 and a rear roller 7 which rollers rideon a guide 5. The forward portion 5 of the upper surface of this guideis horizontal, and the rear portion 5 is 1nclined upwardly from thehorizontal. Thev forward roller 6 is prevented from rising vertically byan upper guide 8, which may' be integral with the main guide 5. Thebrake beam 2 is moved toward and away from the rail 1 by a lever 4, theupper end of which 1928. 1 Serial No. 287,007.

so that the wheel engaging surface 8 is relatively low. W/Vhen theretarder is moved to the closed position and there is no car wheel inthe retarder, the parts occupy the positions inwhich they are shownin-Fig. 2, wherein the two rollers 6 and 7 are on the horizontal surface5 of the guide 5, so that the brake beam 2 has been tipped upwardlyaround the roller 6 as a center. The result of this is that the wheelengaging surface 5 is relatively highwith respect to the rail 1, so thatthis surface. will engage a wheel at a point well above the tread. Whena'wheel enters the retarder with the retarder in the closed position,the brakebeam 2 is moved back to-the position shown in Fig. 8 where thecar wheel is designated by the reference character W. Roller 7 is stillon the horizontal surface 5=-,

so that the vertical position of the wheelengaging surface 3 has notbeen changed.

It will be seen. from the, foregoing, that the 'wheel-engaging surface 3is considerably higher when the retarder is closed than when theretarderis open. WVhen the retarder is open the highest part of the brake beamis -.not high. enough above the rail to interfere.

with locomotive counter-balances or other parts of the rolling stock. 7

One Important feature of my invention is that when the retarder is inthe closed position,' the bralrebeanrQ is 'freeto'swing in clockwisedirection around the roller 6 as a center. If a car or locomotivepassing through the retarder tends to ride up onto the top'of the shoe3, the entire beam will'swing in clockfl .wise direction around'theroller 6, and so the .wheel will remain onthe track rail and no damagewill be done to either the retarder or the vehicle. Thesame thingwilloccur if a car or locomotive tends to rise due to the pressure ofthe brake beam on the wheels being too great. That is, the brake beamwill tip and so the vehicle will stay on the rails and will not rise inthe shoe.

It will be seen from the foregoing, that apparatus embodying myinvention provides for a higher position of the retarder beam when inengagement with a car wheel than the position in which it could safelybe left when the retarder is open, and also than the position to whichit could safely be brought when the retarder is closed were it notpossible for the brake beam to tip out of the way .under unusualconditions.

Although I have herein shown and de scribed only one form of carretarder embodying my invention, it is understood that various changesand modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appendedclaims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

' Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A 1 1ll\ *ay car retarder comprising a brake beam located besides atrack rail, and means for simultaneously moving said beam toward thetrack rail and elevating the wheel engaging surface of the beam.

2. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail, and means for simultaneously moving said beam horizontally andvertically.

8. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail, means for moving said beam toward and away from the track rail,and means for raising the wheel engaging surface of said beam while itis moving toward the rail and lowering the wheel engaging surface whilethe beam is moving away from the rail.

4. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail, and mounted for unrestrained movement in such direction that thewheel engaging surface moves downwardly, and means for moving said beamtoward and away from the track rail.

5. A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail, means for moving said beam toward and away from the track rail,and means including a guide and rollers for raising the wheel engagingsurface of said beam while it is moving toward the rail and lowering thewheel engagfrom the rail.

6. A railway car retarder comprising a fixed guide mounted transverselywith respect to a track rail and having the forward part of its uppersurface horizontal and the rear" part of its upper surface inclinedupwardly, a brake beam disposed in parallel relation to the track railand provided with two rollers riding upon the upper surface of saidguide, said parts being so arranged that the forward ing surface whilethe beam is moving away 1,77s,5 is

roller always rides on the horizontal portion of the guide and that therear roller rides downwardly on the inclined portion of the guide as thebeam moves toward the track rail a second guide co-acting with the topof said forward roller to prevent said beam from tipping upwardly awayfrom a car wheel, and means for moving said beam toward and away fromthe track rail.

A railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside a trackrail, and pivotally mounted so that its wheel engaging surface may tipdownwardly but not upwardly from its normal position, and means formoving said beam toward and away from the track rail.

8. A, railway car retarder comprising a brake beam located beside atrack rail, and

movable toward and away from the track rail,

and means for swinging said beam so that its wheel engaging surfacemoves upwardly during movement toward the rail.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

HERBERT L. BONE.

